An A319 flight attendant crew reported an egg/sulfur smell near row 18 prior to flight but maintenan...

Narrative:

On ground the flight attendants reported egg/sulfur smell around row 18 was burning their eyes. Maintenance performed test on APU bleed which showed normal. Maintenance decided to MEL rear chillers as a possible source of the smell. [We] departed approximately one hour late. Approximately one hour fifteen minutes into the flight the flight attendants reported the smell had returned around row 18; and a 'leather' smell. Ten minutes later; the flight attendants reported an acrid smell of 'electrical'. Decision was made to divert to an airport 100 mile to our right. En route had flight attendants turn off reading lights around row 18 and overheard lights. Odor seemed to start to dissipate. [After a] normal approach and landing aircraft left awaiting company maintenance. The crew deadheaded. Maintenance was not able to locate proper source of odor before departure.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An A319 flight attendant crew reported an egg/sulfur smell near Row 18 prior to flight but Maintenance found no cause. During flight; the odor returned so the Captain diverted to an enroute airport and was later told the cause was an overheated cabin sidewall electrical light ballast.

Narrative: On ground the flight attendants reported egg/sulfur smell around Row 18 was burning their eyes. Maintenance performed test on APU bleed which showed normal. Maintenance decided to MEL rear chillers as a possible source of the smell. [We] departed approximately one hour late. Approximately one hour fifteen minutes into the flight the flight attendants reported the smell had returned around Row 18; and a 'leather' smell. Ten minutes later; the flight attendants reported an acrid smell of 'electrical'. Decision was made to divert to an airport 100 mile to our right. En route had flight attendants turn off reading lights around Row 18 and overheard lights. Odor seemed to start to dissipate. [After a] normal approach and landing aircraft left awaiting Company Maintenance. The crew deadheaded. Maintenance was not able to locate proper source of odor before departure.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1018181
Time
Date	201206
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A319
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor

An A319 flight attendant crew reported an egg/sulfur smell near row 18 prior to flight but maintenance found no cause. During flight; the odor returned so the captain diverted to an enroute airport and was later told the cause was an overheated cabin sidewall electrical light ballast.